Demons in Ugly Christmas Sweaters, 2018.

I was unfortunately way too busy this year to do as many of these as I wanted, I had a couple more planned that should have been done earlier, I just couldn't make the time though - however, those will be done for next year.

Demon Gangsters

I had this shoot planned for some time now and work just kept getting in the way, I just couldn't make the time to get everything done. The original idea was to take a CG character, a Demon by the name of Pyre, I'd made for a movie years ago (the movie never was finished) and turn it into a makeup. I made some major adjustments and went from there.

So alongside Pyre I created a couple other characters, I just felt a solo shoot wouldn't be as interesting. So we gave him a Russian sidekick, Konstantine and a good old school gangster moll, Emmaline.

It was a massive effort to get this all done in time. I had a busier than usual season this year and it was still not done. The only pieces pre-made were the giant horns and the Horned Brow piece, which is a stock piece I sell so it was no issues. I sculpted, moulded and cast everything in the span of about 2 1/2 weeks I think - all while doing a lot of other work.

Fortunately, it all came together pretty well. I was most worried about the cowl for Pyre, it was a traditional cowl in that it covered everything down to the shoulders, just an open face, so it was a full neck. It slipped on and fit perfectly though. The face was a bit of a challenge, but I think after a few photoshop touchups it turned out really well.

And then I had to tackle the issue of bad lighting with a group of three models, it was a real annoying challenge and in the end we opted for solo shots with the other two in the background. We got a couple good group shots, but the solo ones came out much better.

One of the trickier elements was getting the lighting so Pyre's eyes were clearly visible. The 2nd was handpainting all the tattoos on Konstantine, I wish I'd managed to get more clear shots of them, but there was just so much that needed to be done to get the shots, that I just had to take what I got.

In the end we didn't get a huge pile of pictures, but what I did get I'm really happy with. the makeups/costumes all looked great and we did get a few really awesome shots. It was a lot of work and in the end I literally felt like I'd been hit by a bus, my back was messed up and I was exhausted (I'd already done two other makeups that same day), but I still feel it was all totally worth it.

And here's a pile of all the prosthetics we used. The cowl and face on Pyre were two pieces, they just came off together. The gloves were just mask latex that I stuff with winter gloves with cotton in the fingertips to keep them from collapsing.

Demons in Ugly Christmas Sweaters 2016.

This years round of Demons in Ugly Christmas Sweaters.I had intended to do two more, but a last minute broken mould, bad scheduling, the flu and crappy weather just made it too much work, so we've only got 5 this year. I need to plan earlier for next year, I've already got a few good ideas.

They Live Demons.

This shoot was a long time coming, it was suggested to me last fall after my Demon Ash vs Evil Dead shoot. The biggest stumbling block were the damned alien masks and finding the time to make them. I knew I did want to deal with makeup on several people that might limit their vision and kill my back in the application process. I wanted to keep it quick and simple.

It ended up not exactly being quick or simple. The lateness of the season meant the weather turned a little sour and it's been raining, we had to move inside - which wasn't an issue for the most part, other than it was really warm and anyone who's ever worn a latex mask knows they're not exactly air conditioned.

In order to keep the aliens from smothering to death in the masks, we had to suss out all out shots ahead of time and keep things moving while it mostly worked, it did hinder any spontaneity, so while I was going over the pictures I kept seeing other angles that would have worked, but it's too late now and I'm happy with how it turned out.

The masks themselves worked decently, I did a little fiddling with some clear plastic to make the eyes, again to facilitate everyone being able to see what was going on.

It was tricky doing "action" shots since I wanted the makeup and the masks to be clearly visible, so it limited angles and all that crap. Overall I think we were successful in doing something silly and campy.

Demons in Ugly Christmas Sweaters 2015.

I did a round of these last year, and at the very last minute decided to do another round this year. I wanted to keep the set small so I could make sure I had them done before Christmas. I think next year I'll plan ahead since this might be the closest thing I actually have to a Christmas tradition.

Latex Masks available this year!

This post is a little premature, but I wanted to post something. I decided this year I'd start selling regular latex masks in my shop. I've been meaning to for some time now, but there was just never the time or something else always came up. I don't know.

These here are the first group that'll be going up for sale. The lower centre one is a test painting version that I'll be keeping for myself.

The idea with this shape came from seeing some LARP orc masks, no full neck with the chin and lower lip cut out - it means no Batman neck and you can totally eat, drink, whatever without the mask interfering and depending on the colouring, it can blend in decently well to give the illusion of a prosthetic. I thought it was brilliant and since I hadn't really settled on a specific design or methodology behind what masks I'd make, this was my starting point.

Things just keep coming up and taking up more of my time than I'd planned so I just haven't been able to crank these things out like I'd planned. But the mould is all done and I'm going to do them in small runs - since I don't have the space to keep a pile of them around and stored properly.

I'm planning two versions of this mask, haven't decided on a name yet, there'll be a caucasian flesh toned version - meaning it should blend in naturally with worn to the wearers exposed chin and neck. And I'll be doing up a red version, which I can supply some red creme makeup with to make it ready to wear right out of the box, the customers won't have to buy anything additional.

They're designed off an average sized male head, so that's who they'll fit. They might require a little padding in the back of the head since it can slide forward, impossible to fix that any other way since it'd require the mask be skin tight (and utterly uncomfortable). It's an issue I've noticed with all latex masks.

I'll be offering up blanks for sale as well, I know there are some folks out there that like getting them just to practice or they like customizing these things themselves. The finished versions will be $90 (plus shipping) and the blanks will be $45. I'll only be making about 20 of them at most I think, all depends.

So I'm hoping the rest of this week goes as planned, amidst sculpting other stuff, organizing photo shoots and actually doing them, to some small custom jobs, we'll just have to see what happens.

Since I'm only selling them in small runs, I may only sell them on Etsy, but with a link from my own website, it's easier when selling small numbers. I'll play it by ear for now I think and see how it all works.

I'm also planning to do female versions as well possibly, or at least do masks fitted for women (or smaller heads). These are way too large for the average female head so I thought I'd do up male and female versions.

I think they might go over decently well in the Haunted Attraction community as an alternative to makeup. They're easy to slip on and off, if cared for could last years - way cheaper than silicone masks so it's less of an investment. As awesome as silicone masks are, I know not every Haunted Attraction can afford more than a couple before it's just too expensive unfortunately.

By Friday you might see four of them online for sale, all depends on how this week shapes up. And over the course of the year I'm hoping to release 5 more different masks, 3 male sized ones and 3 female sized ones - and of course one of those sets will be an obligatory zombie design.

Demons in Ugly Christmas Sweaters.

I don't this series of photos needs much explanation, so here goes:

And that's it.